


in a polaroid picture

by amadeusofnohr



Series: FE Rarepair Week 2018 [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: F/F, FE Rarepair Week, FE Rarepair Week 2018, Getting Together, JUST FLUFF REALLY, Post-Canon, Post-War, Snowstorms, cuddling for warmth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 05:46:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15478938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amadeusofnohr/pseuds/amadeusofnohr
Summary: After the war, Faye and Silque travel across Rigel, healing the wounded. One fateful day, they end up caught in a blizzard, and find themselves growing closer.(For FE Rarepair Week 2018, Day 1: Snow)





	in a polaroid picture

A gust of wind howls by, biting at Faye’s uncovered skin. She shivers, wrapping her arms around herself. Her usual outfit has served her well so far during their journey across Rigel, but the days just keep getting colder and colder. Silque glances over at her, frowning.

“We should be able to procure warmer clothes next time we find a village. It’s the right season for it, after all.” Faye nods in agreement.

“It never got this cold in Zofia.” she says mournfully. “Do you think it’ll snow?” Ram Village never saw real snow. Even if a few sad flakes did start falling, they never stuck to the ground for longer than just a couple of minutes.

Silque tilts her head towards the sky, full of swirling wispy clouds, and hums thoughtfully. “It might.”

Faye watches her closely. She seems much more animated than usual, her eyes twinkling. She’s… excited?

“How long has it been since you saw snow?” She knows Silque has been to Rigel before, a long, long time ago. Silque hesitates.

“Years, I suppose. I don’t remember much from my time here. Most of my memories are from growing up on Novis Isle.”

“Do you miss it?” It’s perhaps a rude question, but the piercing cold and the somber grey sky above and the muted grass beneath their feet has Faye feeling oddly pensive. Silque’s lips quirk upwards, not quite a smile.

“Of course. But if I had gone back, I’d just be doing what I was doing before the war. After everything, I couldn’t go back to sitting around. There’s people who need healing, people who need guidance now that Mila has left us. Besides, I enjoy getting to see the world.”

Faye can understand that. Before deciding to join Silque, she had gone back to Ram Village to see her parents. It hadn’t changed at all, but it still seemed emptier. There wasn’t much there for her, not anymore.

“Ah yes, who wouldn’t want to enjoy this glorious view?” She says, instead of voicing any of that. She gestures out at the barren landscape around them. Silque elbows her, but she’s smiling, for real this time.

“Don’t be so crass! There’s all sorts of wonders out here.” And as if on cue, something cold and wet hits Faye’s cheek. She gasps, touching the spot instinctively.

Silque giggles, and then it turns to laughter as she sees Faye’s face. Her head is thrown back, blue hair all the more vibrant thanks to the shining white snowflakes falling down around her. It’s a positively radiant sight, and Faye finds herself laughing too. She raises her hands to the sky, trying to catch a snowflake. Her lingering homesickness dissipates, and she wonders how she ever thought she liked Alm. He never made her feel like this, like this moment alone was worth a lifetime of loneliness.

They goof off for the next few minutes, mission forgotten. It’s like being a child again. Of course, they eventually tire of throwing snowballs at each other, and reality sets in. It’s getting late, and the snow shows no sign of letting up. The wind is also picking up, blasting ice into their faces.

“I think it’s a blizzard.” Silque says, voice shaking despite her attempt to stay calm. Faye’s own teeth are chattering. She takes a moment to compose herself.

“It doesn’t look like it’s gonna stop. We need to find a cave or something.” she agrees, because they’ve both looked over their map, and they both know they’re too far from any towns to seek shelter there.

The terrain isn’t rocky enough for caves, but they do manage to find what appears to be an old shed. The windows have been shattered, and the wood looks like it’s rotting, but the roof is intact and it’s better than nothing. They stumble inside and slide to the ground, resting their weary legs.

Faye cups her hands around her mouth and breathes out, rubbing her hands together. Silque is doing something similar, and she also adjusts her headdress, tugging it down over her ears.

They sit shoulder to shoulder, the warmth comforting. Faye cranes her neck so she can peer out a window without having to move. All she can see is white. There’s a nice little pile of snow collecting underneath the windows.

Her body complains, but she forces herself to get up. Silque furrows her brow, opening her mouth to protest.

“I’m going to block off the windows,” she explains. There’s scattered wooden planks on the floor, and some tarps, and even some spare tools on old shelves. She doesn’t dare touch those, for fear of accidentally chopping off a finger, but she manages.

“Hopefully that’ll keep the chill out.” She settles back down beside Silque. The cold seems to slow down even time, for the moments trickle by slowly, until finally the sun is set, and it seems her efforts were in vain, because now her and Silque are both shivering nonstop. Silque’s cheeks are a rosy pink, which would look quite nice if the situation wasn’t so uncomfortable.

“Here,” Faye says quietly, taking off her cape. She wraps it around both of their shoulders before retying it. Silque’s practically sitting on top of her, but she doesn’t think either of them mind. She may even get feeling back in her fingers. Without thinking, she reaches out for Silque’s hands, grasping them tightly. Silque doesn’t complain, only readjusting her arms to a more comfortable position.

“I really wish I had decided to keep studying black magic with Kliff now.” Faye complains. Healing spells are useful, but none of those will create a nice, sizzling, cozy fire.

“It’d probably just sap your energy, anyways.” Silque offers. “It’s not like white magic. Maintenance is harder. Black magic is just meant to harm a foe, then fade. No longevity.” Faye turns her head to look at Silque, and finds her face embarrassingly close to hers. She quickly turns away.

“I didn’t think you knew much about it.” Faye knows her way around multiple weapons, thanks to Sir Mycen, and picked up white magic during the war, but as far as she knows, most priories don’t make a habit of teaching black magic.

“Well, it certainly isn’t standard. But there was a library in town, and only so much to do as a bored child in the Priory.”  The image of a young Silque carefully sneaking around the watchful eye of older clerics to _read_ makes Faye smile.

“I bet you were a real troublemaker.” she teases.

“Not as much as you were.” Silque fires back. “Alm’s told me stories, you know. Something about you being banned from learning dark magic.” Faye had hoped she would just think it was a deliberate choice, and not a strict rule imposed by Sir Mycen.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Silque raises an eyebrow at her. Faye caves.

“I may have set one of Sir Mycen’s sheep on fire,” she admits. Silque starts to laugh, but she breaks off into a fit of coughing. Faye wraps an arm around her, awkward from their positions, to help stabilize her.

“I’m fine.” Silque says, only wheezing slightly. “Would you tell me another story, one from your childhood?” Faye nods, resisting the urge to bite at her lip.

The talking is a good distraction, but time keeps on ticking. Faye can feel the cold air sapping her energy, can feel it right down to the bone. Her stream of words trails off, despite her best attempts at wrangling her brain into order.

“Faye?” Silque is worried, her hair tickling Faye’s chin as she scrambles. Silque presses her fingers to Faye’s neck, and somehow, they feel even colder than her own skin.

“M’fine.” She mumbles, sluggishly swatting at Silque’s hand. She isn’t looking at her, but she swears she can feel Silque’s unhappy frown. Silque grips her hand, holding it close to her chest.

“You _are_ wearing less layers than me.” Faye isn’t a chaste woman of the cloth, though. “We should keep talking. Let’s talk about- about Alm?” She wants to talk about something Faye’s interested in, she recognizes. But Silque hasn’t been present for her internal monologuing. Alm is old news. She thinks she only liked him because he would never like her back. A good reason to show interest in no other boys.

“That’s okay. How about you? Life on Novis Isle? You’re prettier than Alm, anyways.” That last bit just kind of slips out. Thankfully, Silque seems more concerned with the talking idea.

“Well, I didn’t spend a lot of time with Celica and her friends, but—”

Faye lets her voice wash over her. It’s soothing, and entirely counterproductive to staying awake. Silque’s head is nestled into Faye’s shoulder, and it’s so easy to just let her head fall on top of Silque’s. So easy to just shut her eyes and shut out the numbness she can feel. She focuses on Silque’s voice, low and sweet, until she can’t focus on anything any longer.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Faye jolts awake an indeterminate amount of time later. Miraculously, she doesn’t feel quite as cold anymore.

“Thank the Mother,” Silque breathes, from where she’s standing above Faye. She reaches out, gently grabbing Faye’s face with a hand, tilting her head to the side as she examines it with a critical eye. “I was afraid the cold had taken you.”

Faye pulls herself to her feet, stretching her arms upwards. “I wouldn’t let the _weather_ take me out, not after surviving an entire war.” Silque doesn’t look convinced, but she does seem relieved that Faye’s in good spirit.

“You’ll probably have to tell me about your childhood again later, though.” she admits sheepishly. “I fell asleep before you got to the interesting stuff.”

Silque rolls her eyes. “It would be my pleasure.”

Outside, the sun is shining bright. It makes it hard to see, since there’s piles and piles of snow reflecting the light.

“It should start melting soon.” Silque says from beside her. “Then we can slog our way to a village.”

They stand in comfortable silence for a while, admiring the sight. The landscape is much more interesting when covered in snow. There aren’t any trees nearby, but Faye bets any evergreens look stunning right now. She glances at Silque out of the corner of her eye.

She remembers complimenting her, and she’s sure Silque remembers it too. Maybe she just thinks Faye was completely out of it. She could let it lie, let the two of them sweep it under a rug and move on. It would be a risk to bring it up again. But it was a risk to leave Ram Village with Alm wasn’t it? And a risk to leave a second time, to accompany Silque on this journey. Risks pay off.

“It’s certainly very pretty out,” Faye says abruptly. Silque is startled out of her own inner monologue, and looks over at Faye. “But not as pretty as you.”

“Faye—”

“I mean it. I’ve had a lot of time to think, lately. And I’ve realized that I like you. You’re caring, and good at healing, and you tell the best stories. And you were patient enough to put up with me, back during the war. I don’t want to lose you.”

Silque looks stunned. Is it that much of a shock? Anyone from the Deliverance could tell you that Silque was worthy of all sorts of praise. Her face goes red, and it takes her a few tries before she’s able to reply.

“Are you sure?”

Faye crosses her arms. “I don’t say things I don’t mean.” Silque rubs the back of her head, scuffs a foot across the ground awkwardly.

“Of course. I did not mean to imply anything untoward about your character. It was just… unexpected. I’m honored.”

“Just honored?” Faye can’t keep the disappointment from her voice, but she has to know. She isn’t going to sit through another bout of unrequited love.

“…More than honored.” Silque amends, finally looking up and meeting Faye’s eyes. “I’m a bit delighted. I think you’re wonderful, too, Faye.”

Despite the weather, Faye feels warm all over. She beams, and Silque’s face softens.

“That’s a good look on you.” she says, voice going quiet as she steps closer. She reaches a hand out and brushes her thumb over Faye’s lips.

“You always seemed miserable, back then. You deserve to be happy.” Faye takes her hand gently by the wrist and lowers it.

“I am happy.” Her volume lowers to match Silque’s, adding a level of intimacy to their conversation. Her eyes drop to Silque’s lips, dart back up to her eyes, then dart down again. They both lean in at the same time, perhaps a little too eagerly, because then their noses crunch together audibly, right before their lips touch.

They both recoil, clutching at their faces. And then they’re both laughing, just like yesterday, and Faye can’t help but think that she could live the rest of her life like this.

**Author's Note:**

> constructive criticism is welcome, as always! (especially re: typos i might have missed...)


End file.
